Become A Successful Virtual Assistant

by Melissa Smith

  Many virtual assistants will start with the services they think are in demand, the tasks they love to do, and the work that seems interesting. None of those are bad things. They are simply a bad place to start. I was no different. I tried to take what I thought was a valuable service and then find the clients who needed them. The problem is everyone could use your services, but not everyone will value you nor pay you what you’re worth. Could you work for anyone? Yes. But you won’t want to. Think of it like this—if you were searching for a job, would you apply for every position because you could perform the work, even if you didn’t care for the company, the pay wasn’t good, and there were no benefits? I certainly hope your answer is “No.” The same applies to finding the ideal client for your VA business.

  The thought of having a single ideal client when you could have many clients might seem like you’re limiting yourself. I promise you that not having any clients at all or having the wrong clients is worse. We are looking for your sweet spot, the area where your clients and your services meet and you are earning money. Whenever there is confusion in your business about what to offer, who is buying, how to package services, you need to follow the money trail—a trail you can follow only if you know who your ideal client is. This is where I’ll guide you through the questions you need to ask of your clients and yourself. Since this is your business, it all starts with you.

  How Do You See Yourself as a Virtual Assistant?

  “We don’t see the world as it is; we see it as we are.”—Anaïs Nin

  As a virtual assistant matchmaker and consultant, I talk and write a lot about finding and working with your ideal client. However, it is just as important to know who you are. You are your first ideal client because you will naturally gravitate toward others like you. How you view yourself as a virtual assistant and a business owner will have a direct impact on the type of client you attract. There are many questions that must be answered by your ideal client. Before your client can answer these questions, you need to be very honest with yourself and know from the beginning who you are. No one will ever believe in you more than you believe in yourself and your business. When you begin to create your ideal client avatar, you also should ask the same questions of yourself.

  Many virtual assistants don’t realize their avatars closely mirror themselves. If your ideal client is a far cry from who you are, you may want to ask yourself what you have in common. This isn’t a question of diversity. This determines the bond and values you’ll share, the power of association and communication, and if this is even someone you want to work with. If this isn’t someone you want to work with, you’ll have to begin answering the questions again.

  You don’t have to know which services you’ll offer to determine your ideal client. In fact, you won’t know what is valuable to your ideal client until you know who they are. A long list of services your client could benefit from doesn’t help. You’re searching for the thing they feel is out of reach until you come along and provide assistance.

  I consider myself a frugal person. There are things I refuse to pay $20 for. Could I use it? Sure. Does it promise to make my life better? Sometimes. Am I going to pay for it? Eh, who knows? My favorite purchases aren’t things I need—they are things I want. Your ideal client should want and be excited to pay you. That’s the difference between a client and an ideal client.

  Below is a list of questions to get you started on the path to creating your avatar. These also can be found in your complimentary workbook. Your ideal client will have more specific questions for you to answer. However, you must know who the person is first.

  What are your ideal client’s top three personal interests?

  What are your ideal client’s top three business interests?

  What are your ideal client’s top three recreational interests?

  What are your ideal client’s daily activities?

  What are your ideal client’s hobbies?

  What makes your ideal client happy?

  What makes your ideal client sad?

  What makes your ideal client angry?

  What is one thing your ideal client would like to add to their life?

  What is one thing your ideal client would like to remove from their life?

  What is your ideal client’s daily commute?

  What are your ideal client’s attitudes on religion?

  What are your ideal client’s attitudes on politics?

  What media does your ideal client consume?

  Where does your ideal client shop?

  How does your ideal client dress?

  What vehicles does your ideal client own?

  What keeps your ideal client awake at night?

  What gets your ideal client out of bed in the morning?

  Who does your ideal client admire?

  What drives your ideal client crazy?

  To what does your ideal client aspire?

  What line of business is your ideal client in?

  What associations is your ideal client a part of?

  Where does your ideal client network?

  Which social media platforms does your ideal client visit most often?

  What is your ideal client’s preferred method of communication?

  What is your ideal client’s age?

  Name your ideal client:

  Find a photo of your ideal client:

  Answer these questions to the best of your ability. Every answer is a key that unlocks a door about your ideal client. For instance, if your client doesn’t own a vehicle, this provides insight about what kind of person he or she is—your client lives in a large city where a vehicle isn’t necessary or he or she has chosen not to own vehicles to reduce their carbon footprint. This is very important information to have about your client. You might also share the same qualities. Don’t overlook this. What is common for you is not common for everyone.

  Don’t simply answer the questions without thinking about how to use this information to your advantage. If you know your ideal client is on Facebook, where should you spend your time online? Based on your answers to these questions, create a day in the life of your client and figure out where you have to go to meet your client and his or her needs. This is a simple step that is most often missed after an avatar is created.

  After answering the questions for your client, it’s time to answer them for yourself. Imagine your future business self and where you want to be. Remember this is your business. You need clients to stay in business. However, you want the right clients so you enjoy being in business. Knowing what type of business you want will help shape the ideal clients you want to attract to your business.

  Think about what you really want out of being a business owner. How many hours a week do you want to work? If you said 40, I can promise you that you’ll struggle to get there and then when you do, you’ll end up working more like 60 hours, including nights and weekends. In fairness, it was almost a trick question. You shouldn’t think of your time in hours, rather in projects because that is how you will price your services. (I’ll discuss pricing in chapter 3.) It also keeps you in an employee mindset, which can be hard to unravel after working as an employee for many years.

  Begin to think of yourself as your own client avatar. (Don’t skip this step!) If you had an assistant working for you, what would he or she be doing? What type of hours would you keep? What work would take up the majority of your time? Where do you work? Imagine a day in the life of your perfect life.

  Imagining your perfect day now will help you shape it in the future. We’ll discuss more about this when growing your business in chapter 7. However, if you start here, you won’t have to do a “client cleanse” later. Right now you’re thinking about getting your first client. Because I know you don’t need to worry about this when you follow the steps I’ll lay out for you, I’m focusing you on getting a full business without the unnecessary growing pains. This is how you do it.

  Now using b
oth your avatar and your ideal client’s avatar, think about how you would answer the following questions so it is a win-win for your business and your client’s:

  What things does your client want to experience?

  Does your client want to get ahold of you during specific business hours?

  Does your client care when you’re online?

  How will the services you offer match the time you’ll spend completing the services and the time you’ll communicate with your client?

  These should be a seamless transaction. You’re not working around client demands. Your client’s needs fit into your daily routine and aren’t a distraction or a burden. They are cause for excitement and the challenging experience you crave.

  Now that you’ve found the similarities, backgrounds, and values between you and your ideal client, ask yourself if you are leveling up. Your client shouldn’t be at the same stage of business as you. If so, they won’t be able to afford you. Your clients should be at least one stage up from you in business. This is how you earn more and provide more value. An added benefit is you can see how your client arrived at the next level and take those steps yourself. Your ideal client will unknowingly be a mentor for you.

  From time to time when I go through this exercise with VAs, they create a fabulous ideal client avatar. Then when I ask what it is they have in common with this person, they can’t say. More often, they won’t say. It’s okay for your ideal client to be someone you aspire to be like. Think about it—why would you want to work for someone you don’t want to be like? Don’t confuse not being at the same level as your client with not arriving yet. You have to believe you can and will arrive to what you aspire. Success is not a destination rather a frame of mind.

  At the very last job I held before starting my VA business, I was the executive assistant to the assistant head of a school. This was just one of her many roles in life. She was also head of the English department, a teacher, a wife, a mother, a mentor, a speaker, a consultant, and an advocate for women in leadership. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was my ideal client.

  I learned from my male bosses certainly; however, there was only so much we had in common. Looking back, the best roles—both personally and professionally—I had were working for women just like her. All of them possessed many of the same qualities, and if I were to line them all up and begin to list the things they had in common, I could write another book. All were instrumental in my career and certainly led me to where I am today. They were also a perfect example of how I leveled up.

  Over the next year, I watched my boss closely. How was she doing so much? How did she seem to have it all together, all the time? Why was she such a trusted confidant to so many? I took it all in. Even today I think back to her presentations and articles and read her favorite books. My clients now fill the same space for me.

  You may be nervous when you level up while creating your ideal client avatar because this may be a completely different experience for you. It’s normal. If you experience a little bit of fear, it comes with the territory. You’ve done this as an employee. Now experience this as a business owner. I promise you the satisfaction will be greater.

  Once when I was consulting with a VA, she returned the form with a lot of comments written in. She had written things like, “I don’t really do that” or “I think this question is irrelevant.” If you feel it’s irrelevant, chances are your client will feel the same way. If not, it’s not likely you both are a good fit. This is why you create an avatar. You do it first to look at yourself and then second to identify the client, who that client is, and how you can associate to him or her. And, yes, even if the client is not the same sex, you can find many ways to associate.

  The power of association is strong. While traveling, you’d be surprised what you notice and what you don’t. When I arrived in new locations, sometimes I felt at home right away because there was something I could associate with—a coffee shop, a sign in English, music. In other countries, I felt as foreign as I was. Everything seemed backwards. The more out of place I felt, the more excited I became when I saw something familiar. On the days when it seemed everything was going wrong, seeing something I could associate with brought me comfort in a way nothing else could. Never underestimate the power to associate with your potential clients, especially when they need it the most.

  Will you have clients who don’t fit your avatar to a T? Sure. The difference is they seek you out, not the other way around. Your time and energy is best spent on the right clients, not the exceptions to your avatar. Think of it like this—if you were throwing a party, you could pick up everything you need from several different specialty stores and run yourself ragged all over town. Wouldn’t you rather go to one location, a one-stop shop? In the beginning, don’t waste time getting single clients the hard way. Clients similar to one another hang out at the same places.

  Do You Know What Your Deal Breakers Are? They Matter.

  One of the most powerful lessons I learned in my virtual assistant business came from knowing what my deal breakers are. Even more importantly who my deal breakers are. Too bad I didn’t start with this.

  It all started as I was writing the dreaded, but mandatory business plan. I was getting some assistance as to how to write my plans not only my thoughts out. Which means you’ll have hard answers to seemingly easy questions.

  When you start a business, there is no shortage of advice. People tell you where to find your clients, what groups to join, how to network, how to market, how to build your website, etc. What they don’t commonly tell you is to know your deal breakers. If I would have started with this during the avatar process, I would have saved a lot of time, money, and frustration.

  What is a deal breaker? It’s anything in business that is a factor or issue that, if unresolved during negotiations, would cause one party to withdraw from a deal. In even simpler terms, think of it like dating. Are you willing to date a smoker? If the answer is no, that’s a deal breaker.

  Be just as clear on the type of clients you want to work with and those you do not. If you are not very clear and haven’t drawn your own line in the sand, you are destined for trouble. You might as well plan on it because you haven’t planned otherwise.

  It starts when you go against your gut. You tell yourself lies like, “It won’t be so bad.” “I’ll use that as vacation money.” “This client could lead to the client I really want.” The list goes on. Ultimately, we end up regretting that we accepted that situation because it was, in fact, a deal breaker.

  Maybe you listened to a trusted friend or colleague. It may not be a deal breaker for somebody else, but it is for you and that’s what matters. From the very start, you know you’re in a bad place. Immediately when that person’s email comes through or you see his or her name on your phone, you cringe. You can feel the life being sucked out of you for the tiniest things. This client or their work is a deal breaker for you. Plain and simple.

  Pia Silva is a leading expert on niching and building brands. In one of her Forbes articles, “When We Started Turning Away Clients Our Business Really Took Off,” she explains the power of saying no. She explains how not all dollars are created equal and that saying yes is actually killing your business—another counterintuitive principle that most people don’t know or refuse to accept.

  Not everyone is a good match for a virtual assistant, and they are surprised to hear such a thing coming from me, knowing I’m losing out on their dollars because of it. However, taking on a client who has unrealistic expectations is detrimental to my business and my mindset. Consulting a VA who is not bound and determined to put in the work isn’t only a waste of my time, it’s damaging to my reputation.

  Some other deal breakers I have is when clients don’t value my time or expertise. A no-show on calls, late to meetings, a last minute text that they can’t make it. All those things are deal breakers. Having me jump through hoops is also a deal breaker. They are trying to put me th
rough “tests” when they’re expecting me to fail. Someone who doesn’t want to set you up for success is someone who doesn’t want to see you succeed. Why would you want to work for someone like that? Why would you want to work for someone you’re never going to please?

  Now let’s talk about the clients we love. They ask for sample work and are willing to pay for your time because they believe you’re worth it. They want to see you succeed. These are the ones we’re willing to go the extra mile for, to take their late call, to answer their early email. We don’t have to jump through hoops for them. We are looking to please them and get the work done at all costs. There is almost nothing we wouldn’t do for them. And it’s never a burden. Rather it’s our pleasure.

  Let’s face it, the work is going to be challenging on its own. Life will bring you enough ups and downs, twists and turns. Murphy (as in Murphy’s Law) will turn up left and right. These things we know. Don’t invite more trouble into your business in the form of deal breakers.

  Additionally, working with deal breakers will affect your other clients. That’s not fair to them! It’s like going into the office while you’re sick. No one appreciates your working at half the pace and infecting them at the same time. Keep your germs to yourself!

  Deal breakers come in all forms, in many shapes and sizes. Start asking yourself the hard questions and make a list. Then stick to it! You are a business owner now. Not only are you responsible for earning your money, you’re responsible for treating yourself well as the most important person in your company.

  Ideal clients are necessary. Is it possible to have more than one ideal client? Yes, absolutely. However, you need to focus on just one in the beginning to make sure this is in fact your target audience, or you could end up misleading yourself. I’ll discuss more about having multiple ideal clients and how to package your services in chapters 3 and 7.